“You mean – tonight –?”
“No good?”
“I’m exhausted.”
“Yes, well, I don’t think our killer cares too much that you’re feeling a bit tired. Before we go any further I’d like your summations of these two individuals. And of course anyone else you noticed as acting suspicious.”
Haley looked down at the table.
Her vision was clouding. She felt dizzy.
“Please, take your time.”
“I don’t feel well,” Haley whispered.
Ms. Armistice stood up and walked across the room towards her. She sat in Jason’s chair beside her. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“The whole night has been so stressful,” Haley said. “But after we got hit in the car… I haven’t felt the same. And … Dino shot that guy for no reason –”
Ms. Armistice slapped her.
Haley sat up.
“Did that get your attention?”
Haley touched her flaring cheek. “Don’t do that.”
“You need to stop acting like a little girl, and start womaning up. This isn’t a game. You don’t get to turn off the TV because you feel like going to bed. Wake up. You’re in this now. You’re one of us. There’s no going back.”
“But I mean, you can’t force me…”
Ms. Armistice grabbed Haley by the throat and started choking her.
After a few moments, Maurice stood up and walked over.
“Kendra,” he mumbled.
Haley really was feeling dizzy now.
“Kendra stop!”
He pulled her off Haley.
Haley fell out of her chair, the room spinning.
Her consciousness fading…
“I’m sorry,” Ms. Armistice gasped. She moved to help Haley up. “I’m really sorry.”
Haley pushed her away. “Please. Leave me alone.”
The door opened and Jason and Riley reentered.
“What the bleeding hell –?” Jason blurted out. “What have you done?”
“I’m sorry!” Ms. Armistice said shrilly backing away.
“Jesus, have you seen her fight?” Jason shouted. “You’re lucky she didn’t break your neck.”
He helped Haley to her feet.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll take you home.”
“Jason, you can’t,” Maurice argued.
“Back off,” Riley said blocking the path between them.
“So you’re with them, are you?” Ms. Armistice called after her.
Jason, Haley and Riley made their way out into the main area of the bowling alley, ignoring the curses and insults that followed them.
Once in back in the van, Haley sat across from Riley, gaining some of her strength back.
“Did we do the right thing?” Haley asked.
Riley chewed her lip. “Right or wrong, it’s done.”
Haley looked away. “I’d rather be right.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Shit,” Kendra growled turning away from the door. “Fucking shit.” She latched onto the nearest chair in front of her and smashed it into the ground. She then picked it up and went to throw it. Maurice grabbed hold of the chair to stop her.
“Control yourself,” he said firmly.
Their eyes met and the chair was slowly lowered back to the ground.
Kendra stepped away from it and walked to the back of the room.
“So what now?” Maurice asked.
“I don’t know,” Kendra said without facing him. “I haven’t a Goddamn clue.”
“Having Haley steal the Count’s keycard was our undoing. We should never have deviated from the primary objective.”
“You mean it was my undoing.”
“I just want to you to understand why this didn’t go the way it should have. In respect to Jason, Riley and Haley, everyone did their jobs as best they could. We can’t really blame them for walking out on us.”
“You’re still here. Why are you here, Maurice?”
“Because I’m a professional. Because there’s a job that needs to be done.”
“Exactly. It’s not as if this is immoral work. We’re after a bleeding serial killer. This monster has to be stopped.”
“Right. So how should we proceed?”
Kendra turned around. “Proceed? With what?”
“Let’s start with what we have, rather than what we don’t have.”
“And what’s that?”
“We have … well ‘suspect’ is too strong a word. But we can say we have various ‘persons of interest’. Two vampires made advances towards Haley, namely Brock Ferns and Cyrus Rance. We should bring them both in for questioning. Do deep background checks on each of them, check their alibis for the dates and times we believe each of the fifteen murders were committed.”
“Wow,” Kendra said putting her hands on the table. “You’ve thought this through.”
“I would also bring in the Count. I’m not sure if we could figure him as a suspect, but it wouldn’t hurt to check his alibis anyway. The main thing is these deaths have been happening under his watch. He must have some idea who is behind them.”
“Bringing in Ferns and Rance is one thing … the Count is another. Vampires aren’t so easily threatened. We’ll need more than Dino and his team for this.”
“Perhaps it’s time we brought Cresh into the loop.”
Kendra inhaled deeply, her eyes becoming rigid. “Cresh…”
“We could use his help.”
“I didn’t … want to have to ask for it…”
“He won’t hold it against you if you own up to it,” Maurice said. “But if we’re still no closer to finding the killer by lunch tomorrow, our phone’s gonna ring and it will be him. Wanting to know our progress. How pleased do you think he’ll be when he learns we didn’t ask for help when we needed it?”
“Alright,” Kendra sighed. “I’ll make the call.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dermott Cresh, a man in his mid-forties and Director of the Paranormal Police, was currently sitting at the head of a meeting between various associates. Topics that were being discussed included 1: territory restrictions being imposed on several shifter gangs and factions; 2: changes to legislation regarding the practice of spellcasting in public places; and 3: updates on known paranormal fugitives and criminals suspected to be in their city. Throughout the meeting Cresh was mostly quiet, only answering questions when directly asked and otherwise not getting involved. His face was expressionless, tired perhaps. His mind almost appeared to be somewhere else entirely, but when brought back into conversation he always seemed to know exactly what had been said.
“Which brings us to Section 3, Article G,” one of the executives announced at the turning of pages. “We have a recently identified vampire / serial killer, possibly affiliated with Vampire Dating Agency, or VDA. Director, please give us your status update.”
Cresh didn’t move.
Both his hands were outstretched, frozen on the table.
His eyes stared straight ahead.
“Director Cresh? Do we have an update?”
“I transferred the case this morning over to one of my instructors,” Cresh said. “No doubt she’ll have a team working on it by now. But I’ve yet to receive any progress reports from her.”
Pens clicked.
Notepads folded.
Cresh felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He took it out and saw that it was the very same instructor he’d just been referring too.
“Looks like we’re about to have one now,” Cresh said standing up. “Please continue. I’ll just be a moment.”
He walked round the side of the room and exited out into the hall.
He answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Hi Cresh, it’s Kendra here. Do you have a moment to talk?”
“I’ve made one for you,” Cresh answered. “How can I be of help?”
“Well, it’s about the VDA related case you sent me.”
“I
assumed as much,” Cresh said. “I trust you’re making progress?”
“We’ve had a bit of a setback.”
“Setback?”
“Several members of my team have thrown a fit at me. And walked out.”
“So who’s to blame?”
“Pardon?”
“Who’s to blame? You or them?”
There was a pause. “I’m not sure that’s important. It’s a complicated situation.”
“What happened?”
“We tried to … send an undercover into the VDA. It didn’t go as planned.”
“Casualties?”
“No, we all managed to make it out in reasonable shape. But there were some close calls, and … our investigation has been compromised.”
“What does that mean?”
“The Count. Julian. He found us out.”
Cresh scratched his eyebrow. “Well, what I can say? This is disappointing news. Your team has always been reliable too. Who was the assigned prime undercover?”
“I … I put a new girl in.”
“What new girl?”
“Her names Haley Watkins. It was her first day.”
Cresh’s face scrunched up. “First day? This is a joke, isn’t it?”
“No…”
“Why would you do that?”
“I thought it would be a great opportunity to give her experience … and assess her ability to manage future tasks.”
“What is this? You … You set her up for bait didn’t you?”
No reply.
“Kendra?”
“I’m not going to admit to that.”
“Really, this is poor form from you. I gave this case to you because I knew of your connections with Julian. I thought perhaps you might be able to work something out with him. Instead … you’re sending in a first-timer who doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing –”
“It was a mistake, I know. Can we just move past this?”
Cresh hesitated. “Where are you now?”
“I’m at the bowling alley, with Maurice Kent. Apart from Dino and his men, I don’t have anyone else with me on this.”
“You want me to send you a new team?”
“I don’t know. We have a couple of suspects that we want to bring in. But it could take a lot of time and we’re not sure where they –”
“Alright. I hear you. I’ll tell you what. I’ll check in with one of my agents, see if she’s available tonight. I think she’ll be able to give you … a clean approach to this.”
“One agent? Are you sure that’s enough?”
Cresh smiled. “With this agent, I believe so…”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Heavy metal music blasted outside the realms of a nightclub known as The Strangled Roar. Two heavyset bouncers stood out the front watching neighbors from across the road pulling down their blinds, and the occasional pedestrian walking quickly past. A young lady wearing high heels and a shimmering dress soon appeared out the front where they were, gorgeously attractive and looking magnificent. Both of the bouncers became weak at the knees as she drew closer, their hearts pounding, drool forming at the base of their lips.
“It’s a private party, mam,” one of the bouncers said. “Invitation only.”
“But I want to come in,” she said in a soothing, hypnotic tone of voice. “Will you please let me in?”
The bouncer closest to her tilted his head forward in submission.
“Sorry,” the second bouncer said. “We need to see your invite.”
The lady stepped past the first bouncer and stood in front of the second. She reached into his pants and grabbed hold of his penis.
She squeezed it gently.
“Thank you,” she whispered, withdrawing her hand.
She walked past the bouncers and through the darkened doorway.
There was a narrow path to follow which ended at a curtain. The lady stepped through it and the room opened up revealing the live stage band playing their music, surrounded by a crowd of drunk men in biker jackets, and women in low cut dresses.
The lady walked to the bar on the right, where she waited for a bit before being served.
A large man more than twice her size staggered in next to her, watching as her drink was poured.
“It’s on me,” he said shoving a crumpled up ten dollar bill over the side of the bar.
The lady turned, and grinned at him. “Thank you.”
She drank the glass of vodka down in one hit.
The man giggled, liking what he saw.
“Two more!” he shouted at the barmaid.
He then squeezed in closer to her.
“I’m Shaun!” he announced.
“Nadine,” the lady replied.
“Nadine, I like it.”
Two more drinks came.
Shaun drank his fast but Nadine drunk hers faster.
“Nadine,” Shaun said wiping his mouth.
“Yes?”
“I want to feel your tits.”
Nadine smashed her empty glass across his face, causing him to howl in surprise and tumble over. Once on the ground Nadine stabbed his neck with the heel of her shoe. He lunged at her a moment, blood spilling from his mouth.
Then he was dead.
A few people nearby backed away in terror, but the crowd was too infatuated with the music to see what had happened.
Nadine began walking into them, pushing her way closer and closer towards the stage. Within a couple of minutes, she’d made it to the front.
She stood there for a moment, the purple and green lights reflecting off her face.
She reached down into her dress’s pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses which she placed over her eyes.
The guitars rang, the drums smashed, the vocals soared.
Nadine waited until the end of the song, and then she climbed up on the stage.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A nearby security guard reached out to grab her leg to pull her down. She sidestepped his swipe for her, and then jammed her heel into his arm.
The guard screamed.
By now she had the room’s attention. The band hadn’t started their next song yet, eyeing her with disbelief. Nadine approached the lead singer and put her hands to the guitar he was holding.
“What are you…” he said with a smile. “What are you…”
Nadine retrieved the guitar from his grasp.
Then she climbed off the stage into the crowd.
“What the fuck…” the singer mumbled into the microphone.
A couple of his bandmates were saying something to him.
Nadine kept on pushing through.
“Hold the bitch,” the singer finally said. “Get hold of her. Get me my fucking guitar.”
A pistol suddenly hit Nadine’s side, a gruff voice blaring down her ears.
“You heard the man. Give him back his guitar.”
Nadine turned.
As the gun-bearer reached for the guitar, she reached for his pistol. She took it and shot him point blank in the forehead.
People started screaming and the ground opened up around her.
A bunch of shotguns were being loaded up people pushing their way to get aim at her.
“It’s not your guitar,” Nadine declared.
“What?” the singer replied.
“I said it’s not yours,” Nadine insisted. “You stole it last week from a shopkeeper downtown.”
Then Nadine heard a quick step forward.
A metallic click.
She dived to the ground and the shotgun blast erupted into a bunch of people in front of her.
“Shit! Fucking hell! What did you do?”
Nadine pointed her gun at the shooter and shot him.
Another gun barrel dropped behind her and she kicked it to the floor as she stood up. Then she jumped six feet into the air and began to pounce around up and over the backs of the crowd towards the entrance.
As she landed there with both feet, the singer had tra
nsformed into his tiger, and had caught up with her tearing her to the ground. Her roared viciously as he tried to claw and bite at her, but she’d managed to take hold of the tiger’s neck.
A few moments passed as she increased her hold, strangling the tiger. By the end he wasn’t trying to attack her, but just trying to get away. Nadine didn’t let him.
When she stood back up, there was nothing left to see.
People were all around her, but no one was after her.
No one was going to try and see her dead.
They were too afraid.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Haley stared out to the horizon beyond the pitch black waters. Her elbows were resting on a thin wooden barrier – the only thing separating her from a 200 meter drop into the sea below. From here she could see the lights from many neighborhoods, though she wasn’t exactly sure which ones. The distance between them and her own house, or them and the Vampire Dating Agency, she had no real way of knowing. She thought about Brock being out there somewhere, up to who knows what. She wondered if he was thinking about her.
“Haley,” Jason said. “Come here a minute.”
She walked back over to Jason and Riley who were standing by a bench just outside the van. She sat down and folded her arms, trying to radiate some warmth.
“Here,” Jason said offering her a cigarette.
“No, that’s okay I don’t…”
Haley realized that it was a joint.
Riley took it from Jason and took a drag.
“What are you guys like, getting high?” Haley stammered.
“We used to come out here, all the way back in our first years,” Jason said.
Riley rolled her eyes.
“Well, maybe not all of us,” he corrected. “Maybe not right away.”
“Take it,” Riley said, pushing the joint on Haley.
“I don’t want to,” she declined.
“Just do it,” Riley insisted. “You’ve had a shitty night. You owe it to yourself.”
“But I’m not into drugs.”
Jason laughed and took the joint so he could smoke it.
“It’s not drugs,” Riley stated. “No more than tobacco is a drug.”
Vampire Dating Agency II Page 3
